Exciting!

We went to see this property today. It’s massive, It used to be a presbytery- but fortunately religion is dying down. Just fifty years ago there were thirty people living there. Last year the last holdout had to move into a retirement home and so the church didn’t renew the lease and now the property is up for sale by the town hall.

The interiors are grand. Great ceiling height, huge windows, beautiful staircases (2 of them). Enough room for a good number of decent sized apartments- and a superb address, right in the town centre on a wide tree lined boulevard.

I know the idea was to relax, buy rental properties that were already done and making a profit… certainly not to take on the redesign and remodel of a huge place and create 10 apartments 🙂 But I’m not sure I can resist. A few days ago Mike was fighting me on it. He thinks I’ve been stressed for a long time and I could do with a bit of a break and we don’t really need to make more money. But I put my foot down and he’s coming around.

I’m 37, I don’t want to be done. It may mean a lot of work, but it doesn’t all have to be done in a day. We can make our own schedule at leisure. Take as much time as we like. It’s not like the banks are offering great returns on savings anyway. I’d rather the money go towards property.

I’ve always liked the idea of proper-tay. On occasion when I was little and we’d drive towards one of my grandfather’s properties- he’d do this little scene and say, “Oh, look at that, isn’t it magnificent. I wonder who lives in such a spectacular place?” I’d laugh and laugh. Now I sometimes do the same thing to Mike. Time flies, doesn’t it?

Interesting. It’s numbers 11 and 13, BD Soult. The two brown doors and very light blue shutters, and the wrought iron gate to the far right. The footprint is approx 250m2, and about 60% of the attic is usable space. So ten 65m2 apartments would work, give or take. Plus private storage lockers in the basement 🙂

Will the tenants be okay with all the little kiddies next door? And my goodness, what on earth will you do with all the money you make? I am so very jealous; this detective work pays next to nothing you know. 😉

Coincidently amusing word choice. Mike used to get at me by saying posh people (like me) said lilac as if it were two words. Lie-Leck 🙂 He also makes fun of my pronunciation of Palm (Polm) and Yacht (Yot) 🙂

When we go back I’ll take pictures of the inside. It was built in the 1850’s. Classical and restrained, as you’d expect a presbytery/rectory to be. At the back there’s a small but very pretty garden. Roses, hydrangeas, two massive oaks. I think people would enjoy living there, which is a good start!

It sounds like a fantastic proposition and I know your design skills could do the job blindfold after the interior conversion to flats. My worry is the tradesmen, whether they’ll have smoke pouring from your ears so that you do get wound up and stressed. If you can cope with that then it should be plain sailing and maybe you and Mike can take a nice break somewhere.
Soon you’ll be blogging every day just to keep us abreast of developments with all these properties.
Hugs

It needs to be insulated from top to bottom! And double glazing, and new heating systems for each individual apartment. Six months to a year of work.- at least.
Are you a ‘good’ engineer offering your absolutely free services 😀

Nope, I’m not an engineer at all. I was really thinking of the tenants as I was a tenant in places with such issues; once I had to leave in a hurry when a cold spell struck, and it was too late, I became ill anyway.

So I do hope your tenants, when you get them, are protected. Double glazing and insulation is good but not enough; do it wrong and it actually increases moisture, creating a danger of buildup of mold. An engineer with knowledge of these things is an absolute must, don’t just trust the tradesmen.

-grin- Of course you’re not done, and property is the only sure investment apart from perhaps gold, although I’m not that convinced about gold. Plus we can follow your exploits from a distance, drooling in a dignified way as you create 3D works of art. Coz that’s what houses should be, comfortable, livable, beautiful works of art.:)

Property is not a sure investment. as many Irish people belatedly found out in the recent years. It can very well fall in value.

Can’t comment on the rental market in a French town I never visited, of course. The project struck me as sticking to very small apartments – I do wonder if it might be worth it to have a couple bigger ones for families with kids – but of course that depends on the market in the town and the planned policy regarding tenants.

You’re right, as the Irish experience showed, property is not safe when it’s part of a speculative market. In fact, property is not an good investment at any time if you’re likely to have to liquidate your assets in a hurry. I think Pinky and Mike are safe though. 🙂

You’re absolutely right, property investment can be tricky.
Both Ireland and Spain suffered from a combined issue- as in, it wasn’t just that real-estate prices rose dramatically from the 90’s to the 2000’s, but the financial markets jumped on the bandwagon. It was like a feeding frenzy.
15 years ago we lived in a little community in Spain where there were 200 houses, by 2005 there were thousands, including tall blocks of apartments. And people weren’t just building and buying, the market was flooded with junk property. Low quality, badly located junk. Not to mention the issue with the Ninja loans (no income/job/assets.)
In rural France the situation is very different. Prices are low and there’s minimal fluctuation. Speculation is reserved mainly to Paris and the Cote d’Azur with some small pockets in major urban centres like Lyon or Bordeaux.

And also yes, we’re definitely planning to diversify. Smaller apartments street side, and larger family apartments garden side. The presbytery is a very short walk from the town creche and the primary school, so it’s an ideal location for families with young children and/or parents who have jobs in the town centre.